Course Structure

The "lecture" portion of
General Chemistry 104 will be similar in structure to CHEM103.
A typical week consists of four class hours: three lecture periods on Monday, Wednesday
and Friday from 12:10 until 1PM and a recitation on Friday from 1-2 PM. The recitation hour will be used for open question and answer period, for working longer problems, for doing small group investigations and for exams. In addition to these class periods, there will be weekly quizzes which will be in-class during recitations or distributed electronically.

Course
Grade

The pieces of work that will be
graded are four in-class exams, weekly quizzes, participation in class,
and laboratory
work directed by Dr. Lukacs. The way these pieces combine to give your
final grade in the course is below:

3 one-hour in-class examlettes
20% (10% each)

1 90 minute in-class exams
24% (12% )

1 final exam 12%

Quizzes with Self-Check
10%

In-class participation 6%

Laboratory Grade 30%

To
Keep You On Track

Weekly Quizzes . At the end of each week there will be a quiz. In addition to submitting answers to each quiz, you will also submit a "Self-check"; both the quiz and the Self Check contribute to the total quiz grade worth 10%. Further instructions will be given in class.

PLI
Check-in. It is strongly recommended that you attend an evening PLI ssesion to "check-in" with
your PLI and let her know how you're doing. At these sessions the PLI leaders
will ask you for concepts or problems that you find confusing
or difficult.

Conferences. Each student will sign up for a short, 15 minute conference meeting with
Dr. B.
once or twice during
the semester. During these conferences, you will have the chance
to ask her questions about the material and she will ask you questions
about the assigned homework. A sign-up sheet for conference times
will be posted outside Dr. B's office.

Office Hours. Open office times when Dr. B. is available to chat and help you with problems
are at the following times:

Homework. Homework
will not be collected and graded, but that does not mean it
isn't important to do!!! There are ample questions and problems at
the end of each chapter to allow you to test your understanding of
the material. See the top right corner for "what's
happening this week?" to find the recommended
questions from the end of each chapter. These are the *minimum* problems
you should do. Just like elsewhere, "practice makes perfect".

About your instructors

Dr. Sharon J. N. Burgmayer, or "Dr.
B",
is in her twenty fourth year (oh my!) of teaching chemistry at Bryn Mawr College.
Her hometown is Lima, Ohio, she received a bachelors' degree
in Chemistry and French from Heidelberg College (Ohio) and a Ph.D. in Inorganic
Chemistry from U. North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Her research field is bioinorganic
chemistry wherein her focus is the molybdenum enzymes and metalloenzymes
with pterin cofactors. Her research group homepage is here.

What does she like to do? Watercolor
painting, rollerblading, watch basketball games with her son.

Where does she escape to whenever
possible? Tucson, Arizona or Paris, France.

about
your PLI's (more to come!)

Natalia Mavrogiannis
is a junior chemistry major at BMC.

Emily Kirchner
is a sophomore currently enrolled in organic chemistry.